Iran International
Curfew-style shut down of the internet in Iran has begun to show its highly damaging impact on several industries including food, medicine, and steel production.
Private sector trade officials have repeatedly warned about the massive damage that the six-week-old government internet disruption is causing to the production cycle and its destructive effect on the livelihoods of millions.
Deputy Chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce Hossein Selahvarzi told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) last week that production of many commodities including dairy products, medicine, textiles, and steel has been affected. “It’s naïve to think that disruption of the internet and filtering of so many websites, [online] programs, and platforms will only affect small businesses,” he added.
Selahvarzi explained that many operations including logistics as well as marketing and sales, financial transactions in foreign currencies are impacted and that the disruption will cause a drop in sales and profits. This will force companies to lay off workers in an already depressed economy.
According to Selahvarzi, the current unrest and lack of access to the internet has also resulted in the cancellation of visits and cooperation plans by foreign trade officials and businessmen.
There are many reports on social media about the scarcity of pharmaceutical products such as intravenous solutions, antibiotics, and even simple over-the-counter painkillers in most parts of the country.
He added that recurrent unrest since 2009, when a disputed election drew huge crowds of protesters to the streets, has resulted in a drop in investment, economic growth rate, and unemployment.
From the very early days of the protests, social media users reported serious damage to a host of small and home-based businesses. These businesses relied on the internet, social media, and messaging applications for advertising and selling their products.
These small businesses, particularly those run from homes by women or small farms in rural areas, heavily relied on Instagram for advertising and WhatsApp for communication with potential customers. The government has specifically blocked these two apps used by protesters.
The number of these businesses exponentially grew after the Covid pandemic.
Larger e-commerce companies such as online retailers, hotel and transportation bookings and food delivery services have business and there are reports of many companies having serious difficulties in paying salaries and instalments of loans.
The government has been using the so-called “kill-switch” since antigovernment protests and civil disobedience began six weeks ago to stop the flow of information and footage of protests as well to disrupt communication among protesters. The use of VPNs and anti-filtering software has increased by 30-fold since the unrest began following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of morality police.
Despite the toughest curbs that have been put into force, both information and footage have trickled out as young and tech-savvy protesters persevere, sometimes spending hours to post a single short video.
Authorities insist that foreign enemies take advantage of social media and messaging applications to incite “riots” against the government and insist that Iranians should use the National Information Network (NIN), a very tightly controlled intranet, and domestically developed applications such as Rubika and Rubio.
Experts say these applications are specifically developed to allow censorship and are very unsafe as they allow authorities to trace and identify users who do not abide by the censorship rules.
The Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman claimed Monday that relations between Iran and Russia are not against any party and do not violate the international legal framework.
Naser Kanani told a news conference that “those who accuse Iran of supporting one side of the war are sending weapons to a warring side themselves,” implicitly referring to large Western military assistance to Ukraine.
Ukraine, the United States and Western countries say Iran has supplied military drones to Russia that are being used to attack civilian and infrastructure targets, and have begun imposing sanctions on Tehran.
Kanaani also rejected accusations that Iran has sent forces to Russian-occupied Crimea saying that “this is a media war to distract minds from the destructive role of Westerners in the Ukraine war.”
The US had earlier said that Iranian experts were in Crimea helping the Russians use Iranian supplied drones.
His comments come as Iran’s Supreme Leader in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin back in July clearly expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While describing war as “brutal and hard,” Iran’s leader suggested that had Russia not “taken the initiative, the other side, with its own initiative would have created a war anyway.”
In that meeting Khamenei said “NATO is a dangerous creature [that] didn’t recognize any limits or borders. If you cannot stand up to them in Ukraine, then a little while later, with the excuse of Crimea, they would have started this war anyway.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Kanani accused US officials of “telling lies and being hypocritical” regarding the talks over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
“If the Americans say the negotiations have stopped, why do they send messages through intermediaries?” reiterated Kanani, adding that “it is clear Washington wants to return to the agreement but not pay its costs.”
His allegations come as US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, on October 19 said reviving the 2015 nuclear deal is “not our focus right now.”
“Nothing we’ve heard in recent weeks suggests they have changed their position. And so right now our focus is on the remarkable bravery and courage that the Iranian people are exhibiting through their peaceful demonstrations,” he stated.
During his Monday statements, the Iranian spokesperson also claimed that the West is supporting anti-regime protests in Iran saying, “If Americans have bet on the domestic developments of Iran these days, they have made a mistake.”
Tehran routinely blames the West and Israel for negative events in Iran, not willing to admit that many of its citizens oppose clerical rule.
He also criticized recent sanctions by the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed for the brutal crackdown on protesters in Iran, stating that “supporting disorder, insecurity and instability is an illegal behavior. It is an irresponsible act to support rioters and those who have a history of terrorist activities.”
This comes as the Islamic Republic is designated by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984 for supporting and organizing militant groups around the region.
In another part of his comments, Kanani claimed that relations between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are on the right track and the sides are having “constructive ties.”
However, Wall Street Journal correspondent Laurence Norman says there has been zero significant contact between Iran and the IAEA recently calling the claims “a heap of falsehoods”.
Konstantin Simonov, head of the National Energy Security Center in Moscow, said this week that more sanctions by the West on Tehran will give Russia a very good opportunity to invest largely in Iran’s oil and gas sector.
During a TV program he said Russia’s relations with Iran have been very complicated both during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras.
“We see that Iran has made a serious political choice and as a result it is sanctioned. The European Union is going to impose new sanctions, but I must honestly say that it is good news for us,” said Simonov.
He attested that the sanctions have given a good chance to Russia to invest in oil and gas sector of Iran which is worth over 40 billion dollars.
Ahmad Zeidabadi, a reformist regime insider, criticized the Islamic Reublic’s pro-Russian approach saying that “no one is allowed to criticize Moscow and it seems the country has forgotten its independence in international relations.”
In a TV debate on Friday, Zeidabadi declared it is not in Iran’s national interest to have a strategic relationship with Russia and China, but not with the United States.
Regarding the reported use of Iranian drones in Ukraine by Russia, he asserted that if Iran has not provided the drones, then why its dossier is being sent to the UN Security Council.
“As far as I know, Iranians want a balanced relationship with world powers. If you consider someone as an enemy, others will abuse you, like China and Russia. You have involved yourself only with one of the centers of power,” stressed Zeidabadi.
Ex-lawmaker Ali Mottahari had also censured Tehran’s decision to get involved in the Ukraine war stating that, “It is not clear who has decided to involve Iran in the war between Moscow and Kiev. Such a decision must be taken by the parliament.”
Slamming the comments by Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdullahian regarding Iran’s impartiality in Russia-Ukraine conflict, he tweeted on Wednesday saying that “if it is true, why Ukraine claims several have been killed in the attacks launched by the Iranian drones.”
It was on Thursday that Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdullahian rejected claims of Iran supplying Russia with drones to use in Ukraine.
In a telephone conversation with the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josef Borrell, he claimed Iran is opposed to war and although it has defense cooperation with Russia, it does not send arms. But Tehran’s denials have never been explicit about drones for Russia. It says it opposes the war and does not take sides. Lately, it has said reports about Iranian drones being used in Ukraine are false, but it has never clearly denied supplying them to Russia.
However, the European Union and Britain slapped sanctions on Iranian individuals and a weapons company that they say have supplied Iranian kamikaze drones to Russia to kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy its infrastructure.
On Friday, top British, French and German diplomats urged the UN Secretary General to investigate the Islamic Republic’s transfer of drones to Russia, saying that the move violates a UN Security Council resolution.
The drone issue has compounded problems faced by the Islamic Republic amid negative publicity generated by its brutal reaction to peaceful protests at home.